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Science Quickly

Star Systems Can Be Born Topsy-Turvy

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2639 Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2020

⏱️ 3 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Astronomers observed an odd triple-star system that offers clues about misaligned planetary orbits. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

0:11.0

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

0:19.6

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

0:22.7

.jp. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacolt.

0:33.5

This is Scientific American's 60-second science. I'm Christopher in Taliatta.

0:39.0

Our solar system is far from the only way to put together stars in their planets.

0:43.5

If you look at all the stars in our galaxy in the Milky Way, right? More than a half of the stars are

0:51.5

formed in multiples, meaning that there are more than one star in a system.

0:57.7

Astrophysicist Jayhan Bay of the Carnegie Institution for Science. He has studied one of those systems,

1:03.4

with three stars. It's called G.W. Orionus, and it's freshly formed, only a million years old.

1:09.5

Yeah, it's really, really young. Yeah, it's a baby.

1:13.0

Bay says if you translate that million-year lifespan to that of a human,

1:16.9

it's the equivalent of a week-old baby.

1:19.4

And how many week-old babies do you bump into?

1:22.1

If you just walk around your neighborhood, there's really little chance that you meet a baby who is one week old,

1:29.2

right? So first of all, it's hard to find these systems. They are pretty rare.

1:34.5

Bay and his colleagues got lucky spotting this one. Using radio telescopes, they were able to

1:39.0

image the star system, and they say it differs from our own solar system in more than just

1:43.6

star count. In our solar system,

1:45.7

for example, all eight planets orbit the sun more or less in a single plane. Think of the sun

1:50.9

as the center of a vinyl record with the planets strung out along the grooves. In contrast,

...

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